Researchers at North Carolina State University have managed to develop elastic, self-healing wires in which both the liquid-metal core and the polymer sheath reconnect at the molecular level after being severed.
“Because we’re using liquid metal, these wires have excellent conductive properties,” explained Dr. Michael Dickey.
“And because the wires are also elastic and self-healing, they have a lot of potential for use in technologies that could be exposed to high-stress environments.”
First, says Dickey, the researchers created tiny tunnels, known as microfluidic channels, in a commercially available self-healing polymer using solid wire.
Then, by filling those channels with a liquid-metal alloy of indium and gallium, they were able to create a liquid-metal wire in an elastic sheath. Because the wire is liquid, it can be stretched along with the polymer sheath.
Essentially, when the wires are sliced or severed, the liquid metal oxidizes – forming a “skin” of sorts that prevents it from leaking out of its sheath. When the severed edges of the wire are placed back together, the liquid metal reconnects and the sheath re-forms its molecular bonds.
“We’re also excited about this work because it allows us to create more complex circuits and rewire existing circuits using nothing more than a pair of scissors by cutting and reconfiguring the wires so that they connect in different ways,” Dickey said.
Similarly, the technique could be used to create complex, three-dimensional structures with connecting microfluidic channels, by cutting the polymer sheath into sections and reconnecting them at different angles with the channels still in alignment.”
